Ezra 5:4

4. Then said we unto them, &c.] R.V. Then spake we unto them after this manner, What, &c. Margin, ‘Or, Then spake we unto them after this manner. What, said they, are the names’, &c. ‘Or, according to some ancient versions, Then spake they unto them, &c. See Ezr_5:10.’

(a) The reading followed in the A.V. and R.V. is practically unintelligible. ‘Then spake we’ would naturally introduce the Jews’ reply (the first person being remarkable, but quite intelligible): but the question, ‘What are the names of the men that make this building?’ is as obviously the question of the governor. It is equally impossible to apply ‘we’ to the governor and his companions, and to see in ‘Then spake we unto them’, &c. a continuance of ‘came Tattenai’, &c. The only possible rendering is, ‘Then spake we unto them after this manner (with reference to the question), What are’, &c. But the ellipse is so harsh as to make this, even if it were grammatically possible, inadmissible.

(b) On the other hand, the alternative reading, given as the second alternative in the Margin of the R.V., supplies the sense needed by the context, i.e. ‘They said’. This is supported by the LXX. (τότε ταῦτα εἴποσαν αὐτοῖς) and the Peshitto Syriac. It is also supported by internal evidence. In Ezr_5:3, Tattenai and his friends ask the first question relating to official permission; in Ezr_5:4 (according to the emended reading) they ask a further question, as to the names of the Jewish leaders. To neither question is the answer of the Jews directly recorded, since the substance of their answers is reported in the letter to Darius (2–16). That letter mentions also the interrogatories. The first interrogation is repeated verbatim (Ezr_5:9). The second is described (Ezr_5:10), ‘We asked them their names also’, in a manner exactly corresponding to the present verse, Then spake they unto them after this manner, What are the names?

The emendation, it must be admitted, is the easier reading, and is therefore perhaps to be suspected as a correction. But it is impossible to accept the A.V. text as representing the original. It is best to receive the reading of the LXX. ‘They said’, and to regard the reading ‘we said’, as a very early error of a scribe who by a natural mistake began to write the 4th verse as the answer in a dialogue.

What are the names, &c.] Cf. Ezr_5:10, ‘the names of the men that were at the head of them’.

This enquiry would hardly have been made if the correspondence recorded in Ezr_4:7-23 had taken place in the seven months’ reign of Pseudo-Smerdis, and had brought official investigation so recently to bear upon the affairs of Jerusalem.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 5:4 Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the men that make this building?

Ver. 4. Then said we unto them] We (Tatnai, Shetherboznai, and their companions) thus said, and thus inquired; see Ezr 5:16, and be sensible how wicked men conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, "and their belly prepareth deceit," Job 15:35. Not their heads only are hammering it, but their bellies are hatching it; they take a kind of contemplative kind of pleasure in their wily projects, as the epicure doth in his dainties; he delights to be acting them over beforehand.

What are the names of the men] They that are minded to do mischief unto others will do what they can to know their names. I have heard of one (saith Master Fox) who being sent to the Christian congregation in Queen Mary’s days in London to take their names, and to espy their doings, yet in being among them was converted, and cried them all mercy (Acts and Mon. fol. 1881). Tremellius readeth this text otherwise. Then answered we them thus, and [told them] what were the names of the men who built this building. He means, as I conceive, We were not ashamed or afraid to make them around and ready answer; and to give them the names of our chieftains, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Haggai, Zechariah, &c. This was better than that of those cold friends to religion, 1Ki 18:11, who (when the prophet had said, If the Lord be God, follow him) held their peace, and thought it good policy to reserve themselves. Better also than that of the bondslaves of Antichrist, who receive his mark in their hand, the which they may, as occasion serveth, cover or discover, Rev 13:16. The servants of the God of heaven and earth (such as were these in this chapter, Ezr 5:11) receive his mark in their foreheads, where it may be seen and read of all, Rev 7:3. The primitive Christians were called in derision Confitentes; and Chrysostom saith of them, that they would not be kept from visiting the martyrs in prison, tametsi multis terroribus, &c., though they were much threatened, and punished for so doing (Hom. Deu 2:1-37 Martyr.).

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, the enemies asked this, as verse 10.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 4. What are the names] It is most evident that this is the answer of the Jews to the inquiry of Tatnai, Ezr 5:3, and the verse should be read thus: Then said we unto them after this manner: THESE are the names of the men who make this building.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) Then said we.—The LXX. must here have read, “then said they.” But there is no need to change the text; the sentence is not a question, but a statement: “we said to the effect, what the names were.”

What are the names of the men . . .?—It is clear that this graphic account is much compressed. We must understand (see Ezr_5:10) that the authorities demanded the names of the chief promoters of the building in order to make them responsible.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said we unto them after this manner,.... In answer to their questions; namely, Ezra and other Jews replied; for though Ezra is said after this to come from Babylon in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, he might go thither on some business, and then return again at that time; some indeed think these are the words of Tatnai and those with him; so Ben Melech, which seems to be favoured by Ezr 4:10, and by reading the words with an interrogation, as we do; Aben Ezra says they are either the words of the builders, or of the scribes, the secretaries that came to question them; but they are the words of the former, as order requires, or otherwise no answer would be returned, at least as expressed; and the next clause may be read without an interrogation, and the sense be, that they told them not only that they acted according to an edict of Cyrus king of Persia, for this was said, as appears from Ezr 5:13, but they declared

what were the names of the men that did make this building; or employed them in it, namely, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the chief men of the Jews; they made no scruple of telling them who they were; neither ashamed of their masters nor of their work, nor afraid of any ill consequences following hereafter.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Then said we - The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions have “Then said they,” which brings this verse into exact accordance with Ezr 5:10.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In. Septuagint, "Then I (or they; Greek: eipon. The Syriac and Arabic declare for the latter) said thus to them: What," &c. --- We gave. Chaldean, "what are the names?" (Haydock) --- It seems Thathanai asked this question, ver. 10. The Jews might give in the names of Zorobabel, Josue, Aggeus, &c. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Then said we; either,

1. We Tatnai and Shethar-boznai. And so this is an additional and more express inquiry concerning the names of the builders. And this sense is favoured by comparing Ezr 5:9,10, where the same questions here severally made, Ezr 5:3,4, are in like manner distinguished. And so the sacred writer speaks this in their person; such variation of persons being frequent in the Hebrew language, as the learned know. Or,

2. We Jews; and so the translation must be a little varied, and the words read without an interrogation, thus, Then we told them accordingly (i.e. according to what they asked)

what were the names of the men that made this building, i.e. who were the chief undertakers and encouragers of this work; for although the Hebrew particle mah, rendered what, seems always to be used interrogatively, yet the Chaldee particle man, here rendered what, is used otherwise, as is manifest from Dan 4:17.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Then said we — The elders of the Jews. From the use of the first person here, it is evident that this account was written by an eye-witness.

What are the names of the men — Not to be taken interrogatively, but thus, what the names of the men were. Literally, who they were — the names of the men. The whole verse should be translated thus: Then thus told we them who they were — the names of the men — who this building were building.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then said we unto them. It is impossible that the existing text can be sound here. Ezra must have written, "Then said they to them." Tatnai and Shethar-boznai followed up their first question by a second, "What are the names of the men that make this building?" (comp. below, vers. 9, 10).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We - Jews. Accordingly - According to what they asked. That made this building - That were the undertakers and encouragers of it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Then [as translated,] then.

as we will say [as translated,] as we will say.

they said to them Those adversaries of Judah and Benjamin said to them [i.e.,] to Israel.

What are What are the names of the men?

who...this who are building this building.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.